1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fairleads or line guides for vessels and more particularly to such a mooring line fairlead which is mounted on a carriage that can be lowered to a submerged operative position and retained in such position automatically in response to lowering of the carriage to such operative position.
2. Prior Art
A mooring line fairlead which can be mounted on the retractable mount of the present invention is shown in Montgomery et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,993, issued May 10, 1988, but the retractable mount of the present invention can also be use to mount other types of mooring line guides. The mooring line fairlead of U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,993 can swivel about an upright axis as the vessel shifts so that the mooring line will remain aligned with the plane of the arcuate guide.